In recent days, U.S. officials have said they want Israel to consider scaling back its large-scale ground and air campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. President Joe Biden has criticized Israel for the “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians. And Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, traveled to Israel to discuss the next phase of the war.

This signals a change in how Biden and his advisers have handled the U.S.-Israel relationship since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

“We’ve seen a shift from behind-the-scenes pressure the administration was exercising from very early on, to now, much more public exhortations, and leaks, and more public appeals,” said Dov Waxman, a professor of Israel studies at UCLA. “Clearly, the administration is running out of patience.”

An Israeli tank operates near the border with the Gaza Strip in Israel.

The United States has some strategies it could pursue to persuade Israel to change its tactics, although they all would carry political and diplomatic costs for Biden.

Here’s a look at some of the key points of U.S. leverage.

Billions in Security Assistance

The United States could apply conditions to money it gives Israel.

As part of a 10-year security assistance agreement created during the Obama administration, Israel receives about $3.8 billion from the United States each year, a figure that has represented up to 15% of Israel’s defense budget.

The State Department has to sign off when Israel uses that money to buy large weapons or tranches of ammunition, so the administration could find ways to object or slow-walk the delivery of weapons.

On the other hand, the State Department has the ability to circumvent Congress, as it did last week when it approved $106 million in tank ammunition to Israel.

Since most U.S. arms sales come with strings attached — Ukraine, for example, has been prohibited from firing U.S.-made missiles into Russian territory — Biden could put a similar limit on how American bombs are used in dense civilian areas such as Gaza. But doing so could put him at odds with the pro-Israel lobby with which he has been sympathetic over many years.

On Friday, a senior administration official said attaching conditions to U.S. aid was not part of the current strategy. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal policies.

Political Pressure on Netanyahu

Israel needs the Biden administration’s support not only to continue resupplying its forces but to shield it from international pressure from other corners, including the United Nations.

The United States, which is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, used its veto power last week to block a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. The United States could decide not to use its veto power in that way going forward.

Biden could also continue to be vocal about the need for a two-state solution, which could put political pressure on Netanyahu.

But any of those actions would come at a significant cost to Biden, who has made much of his half-century relationship with Netanyahu. In the past, he has sometimes sought to privately persuade the Israeli leader to reconsider his approach. With an election year approaching, Biden would also need to consider the criticism he could endure if the fighting continues.

“He could clearly make things more difficult for Netanyahu domestically and within his own government being more explicit and vocal,” Waxman said. But, he added, “I don’t think Biden has the appetite for public confrontation with Netanyahu.”

Behind-the-Scenes Diplomacy

Biden’s strategy, for the most part, has been to support Israel’s right to defend itself publicly while offering more pointed criticism privately.

Administration officials say Biden and his advisers have relied on closed-door diplomacy to encourage the Israelis to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, restore telecommunications in the Gaza Strip, broker a hostage deal and encourage a smaller and more targeted military operation. On Friday, officials said Israel’s decision to open its border crossing at Kerem Shalom to allow for humanitarian assistance into Gaza was the latest agreement reached through intensive diplomacy.

The behind-the-scenes work had been effective in some ways, Waxman said, but he added that “in terms of the actual conduct of the war itself, they seem to have less influence on that.”

Sullivan on Friday played down differences between the United States and Israel over the war. But, according to a senior White House official, Sullivan has stressed to Israeli leaders that the United States wants a short-term timeline of Israel’s plans to begin more “narrow, surgical” operations.

Dennis Ross, a veteran Middle East peace negotiator, said in an interview that Sullivan appeared to be walking a careful line and not dictating anything to the Israelis.

“I think we’re in a context where the ability to move the Israelis or influence the Israelis requires this initial sense of trying to relate to them,” said Ross, who is in Israel. “We’re saying, ‘Be mindful, how you conduct this campaign has implications to those who matter to you in the region.’ It never hurts to be reminded of that.”

Pro-Palestinian rallies continue as Gaza crisis intensifies.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered again this weekend to call for an end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Organisers Stop the War Coalition listed 57 separate pro-Palestinian events across UK on Saturday, including assemblies and candlelit vigils.

It comes amid growing international concern about the Israeli operation in the region.

The offensive, triggered by the unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes.

Displaced people have squeezed into shelters mainly in the south in a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has expressed unease over Israel’s failure to reduce civilian casualties and its plans for the future of Gaza, but the White House continues to offer wholehearted support with weapons shipments and diplomatic backing.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration is also facing public anger, after Israeli troops on Friday mistakenly shot dead three hostages.

The army’s chief spokesman said troops found the hostages on Friday and erroneously identified them as a threat. He said it was not clear if they had escaped their captors or been abandoned.

The hostages have been identified as Alon Shamriz, Samer Al-Talalka and Yotam Haim.

Late on Friday, hundreds of protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s main road in a spontaneous demonstration calling for the return of hostages still held by Palestinian militants.

In north London, about 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Camden to call for a ceasefire, with some shouting “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free”.

Israel strikes Gaza as pressure grows for ceasefire.

Israel kept up deadly strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday despite growing international calls for a ceasefire and pleas from desperate relatives to bring home the remaining hostages.

Fighting raged on in the bloodiest ever Gaza war, now in its third month, that started with the Hamas attacks of October 7 and has devastated much of the Palestinian territory, sparking global concern.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said "24 Palestinians were killed this morning in Jabalia camp by an Israeli bombardment. Many are still missing under the rubble".

It also said at least 12 people died in strikes on the central city of Deir al-Balah, while witnesses reported bombardment of Bani Suhaila east of Khan Yunis, Gaza's second city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed that "we will fight until the end. We will achieve all of our aims -- eliminating Hamas, freeing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will not again become a centre for terrorism."

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, the latest foreign envoy visiting Israel, called for an "immediate and durable" truce leading to a lasting ceasefire, stressing that "too many civilians are being killed".

Her British and German counterparts, David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock, also bemoaned the high civilian toll but voiced a different stance on the conflict, in a joint Sunday Times article.

The pair wrote that they "support a ceasefire, but only if it is sustainable ... We do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate ceasefire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward.

"It ignores why Israel is forced to defend itself: Hamas barbarically attacked Israel and still fires rockets to kill Israeli citizens every day. Hamas must lay down its arms."

The Gaza war started when Hamas militants burst through Gaza's high-security border fence and launched the worst-ever attack on Israel on October 7.

They killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 250, according to updated Israeli figures, with about 129 still believed in captivity after scores were released and others killed.

According to Hamas, Israel's retaliatory offensive, including over two months of sustained aerial bombardment and a ground invasion, has killed 18,800 people, mostly women and children.

The Israeli army said Sunday two more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing the total to 121 since ground operations began in late October.

- Hospital 'bloodbath' -

Israel's bombardment of Gaza has left much of the territory in ruins, with the UN estimating 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced by the war and warning of a "breakdown of civil order".

"I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity," said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

The UN's World Health Organisation also sounded the alarm over Gaza's humanitarian disaster after visiting the largest hospital, Gaza City's Al-Shifa, weeks after it was raided by Israeli forces in pursuit of Hamas militants.

The visiting WHO team "described the emergency department as a 'bloodbath', with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute", the organisation said.

"Patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor," it said, while "tens of thousands of displaced people are using the hospital building and grounds for shelter" amid "a severe shortage" of water and food.

The Israeli government has come under growing pressure, including from its top ally the United States, but also from families of hostages, to either slow, suspend or end the military campaign.

Relatives of hostages again rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for an urgent deal to bring them home after the army admitted to mistakenly killing three captives in Gaza.

Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old soldier Itai, who is among the remaining 129 captives, said: "We feel like we're in a Russian roulette game (finding out) who will be next in line to be told the death of their loved one.

Netanyahu said the killing of the three hostages "broke my heart. It broke the whole nation's heart."

But he added that, "with all the deep sorrow, I want to clarify: the military pressure is necessary both for the return of the kidnapped and for achieving victory over our enemies."

- Strikes on Red Sea shipping -

Nonetheless, according to reports, talks involving mediator Qatar have resumed toward another truce after a week-long ceasefire last month allowed for the hostages-for-prisoners swap.

News platform Axios said Israeli spy chief David Barnea met Friday in an unspecified European location with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who helped negotiate the earlier truce.

Qatar in a statement Saturday reaffirmed its "ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause".

But Hamas said on Telegram it was "against any negotiations for the exchange of prisoners until the aggression against our people ceases completely".

The Gaza war has also seen violence spiral in the occupied West Bank.

Five Palestinians were killed Sunday morning in an Israeli army operation at the Tulkarem refugee camp, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

More than 290 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the war erupted, health officials say.

The war has also raised fears of a broader Middle East conflict, with Israel exchanging regular fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah across its northern border with Lebanon.

And Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels have launched repeated attacks at Israel and on passing vessels, causing major disruption to the key Red Sea shipping lane.

Major shipping companies have said they would redirect their vessels, among them Mediterranean Shipping Company, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said late Saturday he was travelling to Israel, Bahrain and Qatar to highlight Washington's "commitments to strengthening regional security and stability".